Squash and Broccoli Pasta

I’m a recipe person. I love to read cookbooks and cooking magazines, and I love to read recipes. I like the lists of ingredients, the step-by-step instructions, and the implicit promise that if you follow the directions, you’ll have something to show for it. Of course, I rarely follow recipes exactly as written, but more often than not, when I’m cooking there is a magazine (or a laptop) open on the kitchen table for reference. Some people are not like this: They make things up as they go along, working largely from instinct, and they aren’t interested in collecting page upon page of cooking instruction. I’d like to think the process of learning to cook, at least for me, is largely about working toward some place in the middle.

As I learn, and gather experience under my apron strings (if I ever remembered to wear an apron), I get more comfortable leaving the recipes on the shelf. And I find some of my favorite times in the kitchen come when I read a handful of recipes and use them as inspiration, cobbling them together in my mind into a single, successful dish. Unfortunately, sometimes the results of these attempts are something less than successful. Sometimes improvisation results in stress, in burned things, under-seasoned things, uninteresting things. I try to remind myself that these flops are just part of the learning process.

Fortunately, this particular dish was not a flop, although I feared it might be. I had something in mind, based on a recipe from Heidi’s wonderful blog and a dish I’ve had at a local restaurant called Mua, and a general idea for a mac and cheese type dish made with winter squash. But I didn’t really have a clear idea of how to achieve this. I just started cooking, and while I don’t usually recommend this, well, this time it worked out. Sometimes you just have to take a chance. That’s part of the learning process, too.

Squash and Broccoli Pasta

• 2 small or 1 medium pumpkin or other winter squash
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 medium white onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1/2 pound of pasta (penne, fusilli, elbow macaroni, or some other smaller shape)
• 1 medium head of broccoli, trimmed into florets
• salt to taste
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese
• about 1/3 cup bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chop the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Arrange the pumpkin halves in a baking dish, and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the squash is soft enough to scoop out of the shells easily.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and give the pan a good shake and/or stir, so the onions are well coated in oil and spread out evenly in the pan. Let the onions cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and golden brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Once the squash is cooked, remove from the oven, and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Carefully scoop the flesh from the shells and into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add the caramelized onion to the squash, as well as a pinch of salt, the dill, and the nutritional yeast. Begin to puree the squash, adding the remaining olive oil, and up to a quarter cup of water, until you reach the consistency you like. It should be fairly thin, like a pasta sauce or a squash soup. Taste, and mix in additional salt if it’s a little bland.

Bring a large, oven-safe pot of water to a boil. Add salt, and cook the pasta until it’s almost al dente. In the last minute of cooking, add the broccoli florets. When cooked, drain the pasta and broccoli. Add it back to the large pot, and stir in the squash puree. Taste and add salt if it’s needed. Smooth the top of the pasta dish and sprinkle the cheese and breadcrumbs over the top.

Bake the pasta at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. If you’d like the top to be browned, put it under the broiler for about a minute or so when it’s done cooking. Let the dish sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

Cooking can be incredibly rewarding. I’m always trying to find the best ways to encourage those who don’t cook regularly to do so, but sometimes it’s hard, because to me, it’s just so obvious why one should want to do it. There’s always something new to learn, and every meal you cook can be as challenging, or as easy, as you want or need it to be in that moment. The process of preparing everything for cooking can feel very calming and zen, and I love the creativity involved in looking in the refrigerator and the pantry and saying, “Ok, I think I can do something with this.”

If you love to cook, why do you do it? If you don’t, why not?